Bush Appoints S&L; Expert to SEC Post : Breeden Played Major Role in Bailout Legislation

President Bush today nominated Richard C. Breeden, the White House point man on landmark savings and loan legislation, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The post requires Senate confirmation.

White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater all but confirmed Breeden’s selection. “Let’s say that Mr. Breeden is an outstanding candidate, and I don’t know that we have an announcement on it today, but we expect to soon,” Fitzwater said.

Breeden, 39, a lawyer and banking specialist, would succeed David S. Ruder, who announced in May that he intended to step down.

Breeden helped write President Bush’s plan for bailing out the nation’s ailing savings and loan industry and represented the White House in dealings with Congress as that legislation progressed through Congress.

The final plan, a major restructuring of federal banking laws and the largest single-industry government bailout in history, took effect with Bush’s signature last week.

Breeden, whose job as presidential assistant for issues analysis made him something of a White House trouble-shooter, also helped fashion Administration policy for dealing with the Alaska oil spill.

From 1982 to 1985, Breeden was deputy counsel to then-Vice President Bush. He went to the White House after four years in private practice as a banking specialist in the Washington office of a Houston law firm.

The SEC is a five-member board that oversees securities markets, regulates the sale of stocks, bonds and stock options and enforces securities laws.

Ruder, an appointee of Ronald Reagan, has been chairman of the regulatory body since Aug. 7, 1987, about 2 1/2 months before the stock market crash.

He announced last May that he wanted to step down and would stay on until a successor is selected. Ruder plans to return to Northwestern University Law School, where he formerly taught.

Breeden’s nomination was not expected to run into any difficulties in the Senate, where he is reportedly well respected.